Puget Sound Business

Archive for January, 2009

If your business needs high-speed access lines for several data lines all at once, then you need a business internet T1 connection.  DSL lines are simply not good enough for business purposes, and as for dial up connections, forget about it.  A T1 internet connection will be able to handle all your data needs easily.  No more sharing bandwidth with other customers of your service provider.

However, the costs of maintaining a dedicated T1 internet connection may be too high for you, so you need to make sure that this is what your business needs before you have it installed.  Do a quick check and see if your company does extensive business on the web, has employees that need to share files, and use fax machines all at once. If the answer is yes, then you will want to look into a business internet T1 line.  Among other advantages, it will greatly increase your employees’ efficiency, and this is reason enough to have the line installed.

Look at it this way.  If your business is big enough, then you will find yourself needing faster internet connections more than ever.  Your employees will need to share a lot of files; you will have to do a lot of telecommuting, and you might even need to do teleconferences once in a while.  These aspects of your business will play an integral part in the success and growth of your company.  As such, you will need a faster, more reliable internet connection that will boost productivity and make your customers, as well as your employees happy.

The installation time is usually about a month to 45 days. Use this time to get ready for your switch to a business internet T1 service. Ask your provider about bundled packages which can save your company money.  Find out if you can bypass your local phone company, because if you can, then the canceled phone service will even help to pay for your T1 service.  Ask also about any modems or routers that you might have to purchase or rent from the provider. This way, there will be no sticker shock with the first month’s bill.

The business internet T1 line is becoming the new standard, even for a medium sized company.  Not only will it be more cost efficient but your employees will be able to do their jobs with no more bandwidth problems. This is a plus for everyone involved in running your company each day. With a T1 internet line, your business is always on.   That means no more waiting for others to finish using the phones in order to send a fax. No more dropping of data when the phone is picked up. The company will run more smoothly with a business internet T1 connection, productivity will increase, and you will soon start seeing your investment pay big dividends.

 

 

Think you know everything there is to know about the home business world? You might be surprised. The myths of home businesses versus the home business facts can be quite the opposite of each other. If you are interested in learning a few fun and fascinating home business facts, we have got some that may surprise you. 

 

 

 

The Average Home Business Owner

 

 

 

If I were to ask you for a description of the average home business owner, what would you say? Most people think the average home business owner is twenty-five to thirty years old with little to no college education and making anywhere from thirty thousand a year to thirty million a year. Now let’s take a look at what the average home business owner really is. 

 

 

 

According to studies, the average home business owner is definitely not twenty-five to thirty years old. In fact, the average home business owner is actually 43 years old. Quite a difference between the myth age and the real age, isn’t it? As far as the average home business owner having little education, the same studies show that home business owners are actually highly educated on average with many having post-graduate degrees. As far as income goes, the spectrum is quite varied. However, the average home business makes approximately $60,000 per year.  

 

 

 

Oh, and if you have preconceived notions as to whether there are more male home business owners as opposed to female home business owners, you may be surprised to find out that the equation is actually close to fifty/fifty.  

 

 

 

Women, Kids and Home Businesses 

 

 

 

Many people think a woman starts a home business so she can stay at home with her children and others think there is no way a woman would start a home business if she had kids at home. Screaming kids and business-focused concentration do not exactly go hand in hand. So who is right? Actually, they are both right and they are both wrong. Studies have indicated that the percentage of mothers working from the home and mothers working outside of the home is pretty much equal. 

 

 

 

The Average Home Business

 

 

 

When most people think of the average home business, they think of a small business generating enough income to support a small family and many believe that while small businesses are very common, home businesses are the exception and not the rule.

 

 

 

If you believe there are just a few-hundred-thousand home businesses flourishing in the United States, you had better think twice. More than fifty percent of the small businesses in the United States are home-based businesses and there are actually about twenty-five million home-based businesses contributing to the United States economy. 

 

 

 

Another common myth is that a home business can generate an instant income. That just is not the case. Most home business owners are lucky if they can get out of the red in the first year or two. In fact, many home businesses fail within the first five years due to lack of revenue. However, if you plan properly and stick it out, there is nothing stopping you from becoming one of the home business success stories. 

 

 

 

Home Business Internet Growth 

 

 

 

There is a misconception running around that Internet-based home businesses have hit the glass ceiling of profit opportunities. According to many, the market is oversaturated and there are currently one-hundred businesses for every Internet need. This could not be further from the truth. 

 

 

 

The growth of the Internet is by no means at its ceiling. There are currently approximately one-billion Internet users worldwide. That total is expected to increase to two-billion users by the year 2015. That means there will be about one-billion new consumers hitting the Web in the next 7 years. That is quite a number of prospects to market to and by no means does that look like a glass ceiling. Hopefully, you have found these home business facts to be inspiring! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

A lot has been written about the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and its new guidelines governing endorsements and testimonials.  These guidelines affect how we must conduct our sales and marketing.  We all need to understand how we will do business going forward for our affiliate marketing as well as our business internet money online opportunity.

I will summarize three aspects below.  However, like anything that is written by the government, the devil is in the details.  I will provide a very high level view and you must dig deeper into each aspect to get the details and learn how you will deal with them.

1. Advertisers, such as you and I as affiliate and article marketers, who promote a product or service must clearly disclose our results so other potential consumers can understand what they can expect.  This clearly means that affiliate marketers and sales people must provide their potential consumers proof that using their product or doing their program will provide specific identifiable results.  Making statements such as you will make $150,000 the first month you start this program will require proof that the people paying for and doing the program can expect these results.  I think that we will see a huge reduction in a lot of websites that make false and wildly untrue claims.  This is fantastic and will help you and I reduce our markeplace of charletans and crooks. The 1980 guideline provided an “out” for the truly dishonest by simply providing a disclaimer to testimonials that the “results (are) not typical”.  The new guidelines have removed this “out” and will not protect the disceptive or give them safe harbor.

2. The new guidelines qualify “material connections” such as payments or free products must be disclosed.  This applies to anyone who gets a service or product for free and then promotes that product. They will be required to be forthright and identify this fact.  This is of particular concern for the rich and famous who are paid great sums of money to endorse a product.  I could give hundreds of examples about how abused this marketing technique has been.  You and I need to be aware that if we are paid or receive a product or service for free, this information must be disclosed.  This applies to bloggers, affiliate marketers and anyone selling or promoting someone else’s product or service online.

3. The endorsements by celebrities is identified in the new guidelines.  Although you and I likely do not have to worry about this for our affiliate and article marketing, celebrity endorsers will be held accountable for statements they make in their endorsements.  Both advertisers and endorsers can be held liable for false or unsubstantiated claims and failing to apply items 1 and 2 above.

Make sure you learn about the FTC guidelines and if you have any questions get the official document from the Government, FTC 16 CFR Part 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, effective December 1st, 2009.